South Sudan still pushing Juba-Lamu oil pipeline

December 14, 2013 (LONDON) - With tensions still high between Khartoum and Juba over border and security issues, South Sudan is looking to complete a new oil pipeline to the Kenyan cost, regardless of whether the young nation resumes exports through Sudan, according its Ambassador to Kenya.

For the last year South Sudan has not exported any of its crude, severely damaging is fragile economy over a transit fee dispute, with South Sudan accusing Sudan of confiscating oil entitlements worth about US$815m. Khartoum admitted syphoning some oil but said it in payment for unpaid fees.

Oil had provided the Southern government with 98% of its revenue revenue before the shut down.

The 2,000 kilometre pipeline from Juba to Lamu was initially scheduled to start in June but intergovernmental agreements have yet to be signed by South Sudan and Kenya. South Sudan has been talking up the alternative route for almost a year. since the oil dispute erupted

However, in September the Presidents of Sudan and South Sudan signed a new deal on oil exports that would allow production and exports out of Port Sudan on the Red Sea to resume.

Under the final deal signed on September 27, South Sudan was to pay between $9.10 and $11 a barrel to export its crude through the North. Juba will also pay $3.08 billion to help Sudan overcome the loss of three quarters of oil production due to southern secession.

However, oil production did not resume as Sudan put resolving security issues along the oil-rich border as a precondition. After a three month impasse the Presidents met again two weeks ago and agreed to implement all aspects of the September deal.

It is still unclear if and when oil-production will resume, with South Sudan warning recently that the dispute over Abyei could yet drag them back to war with Sudan.

The pipeline is expected to cost $5-6 billion and if completed would carry South Sudan’s oil to the proposed Lamu Port instead of Port Sudan. Some analysts have questioned the financial viability of the pipeline as well as the stability of the areas it will pass through.

South Sudan and Kenya are still in the negotiations to select a developers, the Ambassador said. The project, if it gets off the ground, would be funded by payments through oil exports once it was completed. If building begins it is expected to take a year and a half to build.

In March 2012 Kenya’s President Mwai Kibaki, President Salva Kiir of South Sudan and the late Ethiopian Prime Minister attend the official launch of the new Lamu Port project.

After oil exports start to flow there are also plans to build a refinery to be based in Isiolo in central Kenya.

Kenya’s secretary in charge of the Lamu Port-Southern Sudan-Ethiopia Transport (Lapsset) Corridor project at the Prime Minister’s office, Silvester Kasuku, told The East African that the two countries have yet to sign the bilateral agreements needed in order to allow construction to officially begin.

The building of the port in Lamu is ahead of schedule, Kasuku said.

When South Sudan seceded from Sudan in 2011 it took with it 75% of oil production but the only refineries and route to export the crude remained in Sudan.

During the six-year period between the signing of a landmark peace deal in 2005 and South Sudan’s independence oil pumped from the South was shared 50:50 with the North.

Despite recognising South Sudan’s independence relations between Khartoum and Juba have remained strained, with the two sides almost returning to full-scale civil war in April last year over Heglig - a disputed border area.

The South is concerned that even if border and security issues are resolved Khartoum may place further conditions before allowing the flow of oil to resume.

Sudan’s Deputy Ambassador to Kenya, Osman Hassan, also speaking to The EastAfrican maintained that South Sudan had to sever ties with its former comrades the SPLM-N in South Kordofan and Blue Nile in order for other agreements to be implemented.

Hassan denied that Sudan is seeking to replace Thabo Mbeki - the former South African president - as the chair of the African Union High-Level Implementation Panel that is mediating between the two sides.

Khartoum has been unhappy with Mbeki’s latest proposal on Abyei, and has been lobbying African nations ahead of an AU vote on the issue later this month in Addis Ababa.

“Vice-president, Ali Osman Taha has been touring many countries like Kenya, Zimbabwe, South Africa and Lesotho for confidence building. Sudan has been resisting a move by South Sudan to hand over the negotiations to the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (Igad).

"African mediators must see the negotiations to their conclusion because a new mediator will take time to understand the issues and we might even lose what we have achieved so far,” The EastAfrican quoted the Deputy Ambassador as saying.

(ST)

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15 January 2013 07:18, by Jalaby

HAHAHAH
Let the thieves dream
When you shut down your oil production you didn’t know it’s your 98% revenue and your only source of food?
Believe it or not,without Arab/Jalaba the south oil will stay deep in the ground and never see the light,believe it or not,whether the south has oil or not the south will stay as very poor country because you’re thieves & visionless!

Jalaby,
Your motives are always driven jeolousy and greed you and your National criminal party (NCP) government are the thieves who stole our resources but am telling you its soon that you are goingt to go on your knees begging from us just wait and see and you Jalaby will be my Houseboy...Hahahaha

Jalaby or Jalaba,
I think you are a son to Dr. Lem Akol but you with your father have forgotten that this is where you belong.
South Sudanese are not Visionless like you with your dad but the Country is just being headed by fools and thieves only.

Jalaba or Mundukuru, son of Lem Akol,
South Sudanese are not Visionless like you with your dad but the Country is just being headed by fools and thieves only.
With Vision from great leaders like Dr. John Garang, South Sudan is free from your fucking Arabs.
Fools are killing the vision of young generation but revolution will arise with time.

jalaby
can you tell me where is the oil revenues since Sudan started productions from 1999 to 2005, is that jonobean looted too the current govt of south is copy of yours they haven’t reach yet to level of what al bashirr stolen ,ali taha ,nafia ,and al-gaaze , they steal around four hundred trillion ,jalaby you are the big thief death to arab al-mostarabba

I like ambassador statement if S.Sudan gov moves on with his idea of pipeline and forget N.Sudan oil flow line. What North doing is the game of chess to see who should win outstanding CPA issues. South is a new nation; it doesn’t have firm ground. Therefore, the course must be changed before anything happen.

YOU CAN SEE JALABY CRYING, SOMETHING THAT WILL RESONATE TOMORROW IN ADDIS ABBA. IT IS SURE, WE CANNOT PUT ALL EGGS IN THE SAME BASKET. REGARDLESS, WE SHOULD START EXPORT THROUGH TUCKING WHILE COMMENCING THE ALTERNATE PIPELINES, AND SUPPORTING OUR TRUE BROTHERS BEING BUTTURED IN DARFUR,BN AND NUBA MNTS. DIVISONS 9 AND 10 ARE SPLA

Jalaba or Mundukuru, son of Lem Akol,
South Sudanese are not Visionless like you with your dad but the Country is just being headed by fools and thieves only.
With Vision from great leaders like Dr. John Garang, South Sudan is free from your fucking Arabs.
Fools are killing the vision of young generation but revolution will arise with time.

This is the very idea South Sudan should have focused on, I think it is better even if there may be some difficulties in construction and transportation of oil, first and foremost we do not have any conflict with Kenya that they can confiscate our oil as Sudan did leading to shut down of oil flowing through their pipelines. Thank God that we did not give them our $3 billions.

Bashir
Whether you are president Al Bashir or who else?We don’t care.Bashir put this in mind,We South Sudanese had faced many challenges since the time we formed SPLA/SPLM.So our relationship with North Sudan is like a curse.Sudan will regrete later if we shifted our oil via Kenya.You arabs like begging but this time no more begging.

Talk less and do more instead of talk more and do less!! it seemed like you are responding to US urging Kiir leadership to ues trucks as alternative to transport oil better you have your own plan baseline than dualing on advisory.

I think it’s good move from these rats (Arabized Nubians) gov’t agents not to open their gate(s) again to these thieves in that Jungle (South Sudan). If they (Thieves) don’t acknowledge their weakness, let then staved to death until the come to their sense. How come in a world you can run a dirty business with your foe if you don’t know take-and-give tictic?

The first project should have been the refinery within Liech/Unity or Upper Nile State that could produce more oil for domestice consumtion and to generate more revenues ($$) from Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia... if not because this Jungle has been run by coward an idiot president at the same time.
Shame on him!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It’s really very unique n strategic plan for Juba government of taking this concept so seriously. Because, the players in Khartoum think that they are punishing us through oil means. Juba! Wake up, n do something. South Sudan was created in that land of kush without oil, n we still living. There was no power sharing in 1998-2005 when an oil was discovered. We will never suffer.

Believe it or not! If that plan of pipeline succeeded. They will do everything in Khartoum to please south Sudan, what ever south Sudan will say, will all be yes! Yes! They will even withdraw from Nuba mountain, Blue Nile n so forth. Khartoum will start shrinking like a plastic. I lauded this plan to a success.

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